The Tear of The Sword
by CVX-01
Summary: Luka was one of the masters of swordsmanship from one of the countries that were involved in a war. One day, a stranger came to her and asked to be her apprentice. What will happen when she accepts? First Story, R&R please COMPLETED
1. Chapter 1: Apprentice

A/N: Hi guys, this is my first fanfic about Vocaloid and it's based on a song titled "The Tear of The Sword" sung by Megurine Luka. This is my first story as well, so expect some messed up stuffs. Well actually, this story has been staying on my computer for long, and I never had the urge to post it on the internet. But since my mom found out that I wrote this, she encouraged me to, and… yeah, here I am. I know that my grammar sucks; English is not my first language (and I guess I got some mistakes with the Japanese name labels). I'm using some OCs in this story, so yeah, without further ado, please enjoy…

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><p>"<em>What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends..." <em>

-Robert E. Lee

Chapter 1: Apprentice

Long ago, a great war erupted between two great countries. From one of the country, lived a very well-known woman with excellent swordsmanship that made her name spread throughout her own and her enemy's country. She was known as Luka, a woman soldier with a great loyalty to her country. She had sworn that she would protect both her family and her country. She lived in a simple house along with her siblings, Miku, Rin, and Len. She was the oldest of the four, and they lived without their parents; they were killed in the said war, and Luka, as the oldest, had given duty to protect her family, thus, she decided to join the army, although she didn't usually get involved in a battle except it was a must. That afternoon, Luka was sitting on top of her house and watched the sun set slowly as she heard her youngest sister spoke.

"Luka-san? What are you doing up here?" Rin piped up as soon as she finished climbing up the ladder. Luka calmly turned her head to see her yellow-haired sister moved to her side and sat there. She noticed the younger woman's eyes widened slightly when looking at what she just recently saw. "Um… Nevermind, I understand." Rin said.

Luka smiled slightly and turned her attention back to the burning sun which had already splitted in half by the horizon. Her twin lids slowly closed as she enjoyed the warmth of the breeze that flew by. She felt peaceful. "I always like it, to see the sun sets… it made me feel… peaceful." She said just after she opened her eyes again, which were fixated upon the setting sun, ignoring her sister who was looking at her. Rin needed another moment to understand what her older sister meant; she remembered their parents. "…I think this is the peace I can find within this war."

Rin ducked her head, the images of her parents flashed in her mind. She couldn't help but to think of them as they left too early for her. "I wish this war had never happened, that way, we could still be with… with… m-mom and d-dad." She said shakily, tears slowly forming on her eyes. She didn't want to cry, but remembering her parents made her so. Hearing her little sister sobbed, Luka moved slightly closer and wrapped an arm around her, trying to calm her down.

"There, there… its okay, I know it's sad but… there's nothing we can do about it. It had already happened. War is cruel, yes. But I know, peace will come, soon, or later." She said with almost uncertainty, as the war had gone for 2 years, and there was still no sign to its end. She sighed, wondering how the war would end; it had already eaten countless of lives, not counting the innocent ones. Rin slowly wept her eyes and nodded slightly, her head rested on her older sister's shoulder, enjoying her embrace. After a minute, Luka finally broke the silence that fell between them, "Let's get back inside, I think Miku had finished cooking dinner for us." Rin nodded and both slowly got up and climbed down using the ladder; Rin first.

In the kitchen, which was also the place the family usually ate together, stood Miku and Rin's twin brother, Len. Both just finished preparing the dinner for the four. Luka opened the door to the kitchen and let Rin went inside first; she followed almost immediately then closed the door back. She smiled slightly, and thanked Miku and Len for making them dinner. The food was what you can find in a usual family menu, but the atmosphere around them was rarely found on the world. It was warm and loving, as the bonds between the four siblings were quite strong. They ate quietly, enjoying the food. But for Luka, the food was not the one she was enjoying; instead, what made her mood was the smile on her siblings' faces. 'I hope they could be like this… in the time of peace.' Luka silently contemplated.

Several minutes later, after they had finished the dinner along with a simple dessert, each took turn in taking bath, with Luka being the last. Not only being the last to take a bath, she was also the longest one to do so. Because she always thinks about why the war had to happen, why her parents had to pass away in such a discomforting way, time, and situation? Usually, just after she finished her thoughts, she cried. Silent cries that she never had shown to her siblings, because she was their leader now, their only place to find shelter and comfort. And as a leader, and their protector, she must be strong, and must show no fear to do her duty as a sister.

After she got a hold of herself, she finished her bath and wore her night clothing. She waited for the other three to sleep first while she, yet again, be the last to sleep. Because she wouldn't feel that they are safe until they were asleep, peacefully. After minutes of waiting, she confirmed herself that her siblings had already fallen asleep in their room. She slowly and silently walked to her room, stopping at the window to look at the full moon outside. The light from the moon calmed her, soothed her. A small smile formed on her lips when she felt the peace harbored inside her. She continued walking shortly afterwards to her room and settled comfortably on her bed. She closed her eyes and fell asleep.

\-/*(^)*\-/

The next day, she woke up early in the morning, much faster than her younger siblings. She idly stretched her arms upwards and yawned softly. She then got off from the bed and took a bath. Just after she started washing herself, she heard a small noise of chatter outside the bathroom, meaning that the other three family members had also woken up. She finished her bath in a short amount of time and dried herself then wore her usual clothing. She said good morning to the three who answered cheerfully. She then told them to take turns in taking bath, while she would be preparing the breakfast. Yeah, it usually went this way; either one out of the three that made the dinner, or all three of them did, and Luka made the breakfast, but usually Miku helped her out.

After everyone was clean, Luka, Rin and Len settled down on the table while Miku went to the front door to check whether there was something. The other three, on the other side, hadn't started eating yet; they waited patiently for the teal-haired girl to go back inside the room and sat together. Shortly enough, Miku opened the kitchen door and showed a small parchment rolled and tied with a thin rope. "There is a message from the Captain for you Luka-san." The teal-haired girl answered the question that lingered in the family members who were sitting around the table.

Luka took the message from Miku's extended arm and opened it. She read silently, while the others held their breath, waiting for her to say something. Finally, Luka put the scroll down and placed it beside her plate and said calmly, "I have to see the Captain soon; he said that there is something important for me to know."

Her younger siblings' expression didn't change, thus, she smiled warmly, "Don't worry, I'm not in that much of a hurry as he didn't mention that I have to see him _now_. I could still have breakfast with you guys." Her effort was a success, all three of them exhaled in relief. Shortly, after Luka's initiation, they started eating in silent but engaged conversation. Shortly after they finished, Luka set off to see her captain. She wondered what news he had for her; she hope it isn't a bad one…

\-/*(^)*\-/

"Last night, we have spotted and attacked our enemy's small force of recon squad. It consisted of a six-man cell. We managed to ambush them before they managed to reach their destination, nor fulfilling any act they planned." Luka's captain spoke to her. She was inside her captain's room, alone. She didn't expect that there was an infiltration unit from the other country that managed to slip inside hers. At least she didn't have to worry about them anymore as they were successfully ambushed by her country's army before they managed to fulfill their wretched plan. "However…"

Luka diverted her attention back to her captain. "We only managed to eliminate _five_, the last one managed to run away from our ambush squad. We didn't have any idea on how he looks like as his head was covered in bandana, and he also covered his lower part of his face, thus, we can't pinpoint how exactly he looks like."

Luka immediately feared that the lone surviving member of the enemy recon squad would enter her house at night, and slipped inside without her knowing he was there, and murdered her entire precious family. She calmed herself down before asking further, "Why are you telling me this, sir?"

The Captain sighed slightly, and decided to tell his lieutenant the truth. "Well, it's because, the incident happened near where you lived, so…"

Luka's heart missed a beat, her fear of the enemy killing her entire family returned, only stronger this time. She didn't know that she was so careless that she didn't even notice a fight had been going on near her house. She also feared that she won't notice the intruder in the event her fear became reality. "I... I see…"

Her captain noticed the slight change in her tone. "I only called you here to inform you about it. You have currently no assignment at the time. You may go back now. Take care, and stay alert Luka-san."

She stood up calmly and bowed slightly, "Yes sir." She left shortly afterwards and made her way straight to her house. She told her younger siblings about the situation and that they must be always on alert until at least the intruder was caught. Thankfully the three immediately understood and she silently thanked them for not asking them why, and she didn't have to tell them that the fight occurred nearby. The rest of the day went by like usual, but she couldn't sleep peacefully at night with her mind focused at the intruder.

\-/*(^)*\-/

Several days later, when Luka was sitting on a bench in her front yard, a young man came to Luka's house. She wondered who the stranger was, as she didn't expect anyone to approach her at the time, nor did her captain inform her about it. She asked the man what he was doing there.

The stranger calmly answered, "I have heard tales of your swordsmanship from my family. I wanted to learn such swordsmanship, please do take me as your apprentice!" he said while bowing slightly to the pink-haired woman in front of him.

She scanned the man from head to toe. From his appearance, she could tell that he was around her age. 'Is he serious about learning the art of swordsmanship? He looks really innocent. But… where are his parents? I don't sense any other presence around.' She silently wondered why. As she couldn't figure out the answer, she asked him, "Where are your parents?"

The young man straightened up slowly and answered in the same tone, "They were killed in this war. I don't have any other place to go, so I decided to join the war myself, and make _them_ pay for killing my parents!"

Luka blinked several times, she didn't expect that the stranger in front of her would have the same fate as she had. 'Maybe I could teach him a thing or two…' She smiled evenly then stood up and asked again, "What is your name?"

The stranger's eyes lit up with confidence and answered, "My name is Ryuu, Luka-san." He bowed once more.

Luka's smile grew wider, "Okay then, Ryuu-kun, come back tomorrow in the afternoon, I'll be waiting for you here." She finished talking while tucked some of her hair behind her ear.

Ryuu straightened up and smiled, then bowed again, "Thank you Luka-san! I promise I won't let you down!" And with that, he began running back to his house.

Luka just smiled as she watched her new apprentice ran energetically. 'I hope things will work out for both me and him.' She silently thought.

\-/*(^)*\-/

Ryuu was in his house, writing a letter to someone. He wrote it slowly and carefully, his expression was blank, a straight contrast to his expression earlier in Luka's front yard. On the letter, was written:

"_Commander, I am sorry that we didn't inform you as soon as we had managed to infiltrate this country. But there was some trouble, we were ambushed by their forces and we were obliterated. I was the only one who survives the ambush, but don't worry, I also have good news. I have managed to become the apprentice of one of the important soldiers here. And it was Luka, the one with excellent swordsmanship that managed to take down 3 squads of ours single-handedly. I'll try my best to gain more of her trust and I'm sure I will be able to steal those documents. You have nothing to worry commander; after all, you chose me to join this black ops mission. I won't fail._

_ Regards_

_ Ryuu"_

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><p>AN: So that's it for the first chapter! I know it's short, but I tell you, the second chapter is far longer than this one. Please review my story, I accept critics and stuffs but, please, no flames. Just want to let you guys know, I'm posting the next chapter in a day or two. I've finished this story, though, so I only need to post it here :D See ya!


	2. Chapter 2: Training, Battle, and Truth

A/N: I'm sorry for not updating as soon as I promised in the last chapter, but I'm very busy with school these days. Anyways, please enjoy the second chapter of my story ^^

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><p>Chapter 2: Training, Battle, and Truth<p>

The next afternoon, Luka was sitting on the same bench she sat on yesterday, waiting patiently for her new apprentice to arrive. After 15 minutes of silent waiting, Ryuu arrived. He wore a full black clothing, and tidier than the one he wore when he met his master for the first time. Luka watched as he approach her in a steady pace with a small smile on her lips. "Good afternoon Ryuu-kun."

Ryuu stopped just a few feet from his teacher and bowed slightly, "Good afternoon Luka-san." Ryuu straightened up and asked her, "May I ask what you are going to teach me today?"

Luka motioned her student to take a seat nearby, and when he settled down, she started explaining, "First things first, Ryuu-kun; I want to know, what made you want to learn swordsmanship skills?"

The silver-haired man spoke up calmly, no single hint of hesitation detected in his voice as he speaks. "It was I have told you yesterday, master. I only want to get revenge on those who killed my parents, and end this war, even if it's the last thing I'd do."

Luka nodded, "You have a strong confidence, i give you that." She paused momentarily as she moved to sit on the bench. "But you know... to use your skill as a swordsman for your revenge is not the right thing." She noticed his mouth moved, pouting silently. She knew really well how he feels at the time as she also had the same fate as his. "I understand how you feel Ryuu-kun, I also lost my parents in this war. I had the same urge to get revenge on who killed them, but I finally realize that revenge won't do well to anyone."

Ryuu ducked his head and contemplated the meaning of the words. It took him almost a minute before he finally answered, "So then... what should I do?"

Luka smiled softly, "That's a good question. To be honest, I haven't got the answer of the same question that I've been asking myself the whole time." She told him the truth, as she was unsure whether everything she did after her parents passed away was the right ones. "But at least I finally understand that this skill suited better to protect those who are precious to you."

The silver-haired young man nodded at his understanding. "I understand, master." Luka's smile grew wider and she also eye-smiled. She never thought that teaching would be so enjoyable, especially with him. She then got up from her sitting position and then motioned her pupil to follow her, who followed obediently. She took him to the back of her house and she took two swords made of bamboo.

Ryuu wasn't surprised at all; instead, he had wanted to begin his training sooner. And sooner it was, "We will use these for training. Your objective is simple, strike me with it, and I will do the same towards you." Luka explained as she gave him one of the bamboo swords. "Once you are able to score a clean hit on me, or when you give up, we'll call it for a stop. Well… whichever comes first." She continued. To her pleasant surprise, her apprentice's mouth formed a small smile. She smiled in response, and got into her battle stance, "Let's begin."

It was unexpected for Luka, but she made had a quick reflex just enough to block a surprise attack from her student who suddenly launched himself at her just after she finished saying her words. Ryuu retracted shortly after he landed his failed surprise attack, and got into his battle stance; he held the sword's grip above his head, and the – bamboo – blade's edge pointed to the ground, forming a vertical line in front of him. His combat stance was surprisingly a bit similar to Luka's, who held her sword horizontally in front of her, although the grip was at her neck level. The two stared into each other's eyes, not moving even slightly. The wind blew casually around them, dry leafs flying around them as the two waited for the moment to attack. Suddenly, the wind died down, and both teacher and student charged at each other, and started their one-on-one sparring training.

The training went on for several more minutes until Miku noticed the fight that had been going on the backyard. She immediately called her twin siblings to also watch the fight. As expected from the three of them, their oldest sister was gaining advantage over time. Ryuu's skill was still clumsy and was no match for Luka. He had been receiving several clean hits from his sensei, yet he hadn't been able to land a single touch from his sword on his master.

'She is as good as I heard her to be.' He silently commented. He was crouching on the ground with one leg and used his sword to support his weight, panting. Luka noticed that he could no longer able to fight in his current state, thus she called their first training session to an end. But Ryuu boldly shook his head and shakily stood up, stating that he could still fight. Luka's eyes widened slightly in surprise when Ryuu charged to attack. But even anyone could notice that his effort was a desperate attempt, and so did Luka. She sighed and silently commented him as a 'hard-head'. She swiftly moved behind him and tackled him so he fell to the ground, to which Miku, Rin, and Len commented with an 'ouch…' Ryuu turned around, but before he could even stand up nor prepare himself, the edge of Luka's bamboo sword was already placed on his chest.

Still panting, he almost couldn't believe that she had actually beaten him. Nevertheless, he had no other choice but to admit his defeat. Luka smiled warmly and retracted her sword and extended an arm to help her pupil stand up. Ryuu responded with the same smile and took her offered arm. "You really are a stubborn combatant, you know?" Luka commented on his fighting style.

He scoffed slightly and nodded. "I don't know. When I was fighting you, I feel like I wanted to be better than you so badly." He turned his head to his sensei to see her smiled and shook her head while sighing. When he tried to move an arm, he felt a stinging pain on several part of his body. He lifted his other arm and gripped the painful part on his arm with it. It didn't go unnoticed by the pink-haired woman who quickly invited him into her house so that she could treat his wound. He hesitated for a moment, but when his sensei's siblings also invited him to come inside, he agreed.

First thing he thought when he saw the inside of his master's house, were the words 'simple yet comfortable'. He was told to wait in the living room while Luka went to other part of the house. He was left with her siblings who kept on asking him questions about himself, such as who he was, where he came from, and other questions. Luckily he was saved by his own master who just returned back to the room with a first aid kit box and a small bucket filled with water on her hands. She took off his shirt and began checking on his wounded arm. After several moments, she took out a small washcloth and soaked it in the warm water, and then she placed the washcloth on Ryuu's wounded part.

The contact made Ryuu winced slightly, but immediately relaxed to the sensation of the warm water. She repeated procedure several more times until the blue mark on Ryuu's arm disappeared. She was about to continue to heal her student, when she heard her younger siblings whispered behind her and sometimes she even heard Rin and Miku giggled softly which made her uncomfortable. She told the three to make dinner and take a bath. The three nodded with big smiles on each faces when they left. Luka sighed and moved on to the right part of his stomach which also had a blue mark on it. Luka can't help but to think whether she was too hard on him when they trained. "Sorry, I guess I was too hard on you weren't I?" Her mouth suddenly said the question that lingered on her mind.

Ryuu turned to face his sensei who now sat beside him. He looked up and said, "Hmm, well to be honest, I think you are kinda fierce earlier." Luka let a small sigh escaped her mouth; she felt guilty for being too harsh on her student at their first training. "But I think its okay. After all, I wanted to be as strong as you do." He continued. "And you don't need to worry sensei, I'm fine. And you're not that bad as a teacher."

Luka can't help but to blush slightly hearing his words. She made her best effort to hide it from him. She just finished taking care of his wound on the stomach, and moved on to his leg. "Well, thank you." She replied as she moved, "I've never taught anyone before this, so I have no idea on how to." She began treating his leg.

"…Well, I guess you'd make a _fine_ teacher, sensei." The silver-haired man replied. Luka smiled and giggled softly.

Silence fell between them after that, until Luka stood up and put the washcloth on the table and put back everything she took out from the first aid kit box. "Well, I suppose that take cares of your… injuries." She said uneasily because she realized that she was the one who made those blue marks.

Ryuu tried to move his wounded part slowly and felt that the pain had been reduced somewhat. "It still hurts a little, but it is much better now." He looked back to Luka and bowed his head slightly. "Thank you sensei, now I must be going home if you don't mind."

Luka gave a quick glance at the clock hanging nearby and the time shows that it was night already. She would be worried if her student had to walk on his own back to his house at his current state. "It's already night, why don't you stay here for tonight? There's still an empty room." She offered. This time, it was Ryuu who took a quick look at the clock, then turned back to Luka. Before he could say a word, Luka interrupted, "After all, my siblings would've made dinner for you too."

Ryuu thought for a while. 'Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I spend tonight here…' His lips formed a small smile as he spoke, "Hmm, I guess you're right, master. Thank you."

Luka responded with her own smile, and then took him to the kitchen after he put his shirt back on. The three siblings were already waiting for them while chatting happily. They piped down almost immediately when Luka and Ryuu came inside. Luka then sat down on one of the chairs around the table. She sat between Len and Miku, while Rin was on the other Miku's side. Ryuu looked like he didn't know what to do. But then Rin asked him to sit on a chair between her and Len. Ryuu nodded with a small smile and proceeded.

They started eating shortly afterwards, but not as quiet as the four usually be. Len, who was the only boy of the four, had never had another man to talk to. So he chatted with Ryuu for almost until all of them finished their food. For him, it felt like as if he had a brother. "So…" Len piped up, "How do you feel about training with my sis? She's kinda scary, huh?" The sentence made all of them, even Ryuu to let out a small laugh, except the pink-haired woman who was the subject of the topic. She glared at her only brother, but it had almost no effect on him who seemed to ignore her at the time.

Ryuu stopped his laugh to respect his sensei. Realizing that the yellow-haired boy demanded an answer, he replied. "Well, she isn't that scary for me. But she is a one tough opponent, that's for sure." Len nodded enthusiastically while laughing.

"And uh… what do you think of her?" Len asked another question. But this time, Luka interrupted.

"Hey… what do you mean with that?" She gave him a death glare as if telling the boy that if he asked another question about the similar topic, she wouldn't just sit down and ignore it. That made Len rose up his arm in surrender, as he knew how scary his sister could be. The rest of the meal went in silent but chats of Len and Ryuu, although it didn't involve about Luka anymore.

As they finished the meal, the three siblings went to their room to change and sleep, while Luka and Ryuu washed the dishes. Ryuu commented on how her siblings are from his point of view, and that made her laugh. After they finished, Luka and Ryuu took a bath in turn. She then took him to the empty bedroom, which was formerly belong to her parents, and told him that she would be sleeping on the room next to him, and that he may call her when he needed assistance on something. Ryuu nodded in understanding and Luka exited the room to check her noisy siblings who were already quiet. After making sure that they were asleep, she entered her own room and settled down on her bed. She smiled and closed her eyes…

\-/*(^)*\-/

Luka's twin lids were immediately shot open when she heard Rin screaming. She quickly got off from her bed and opened the door, looking at the hall. Ryuu did the same on the next room, both looked confused. Then they turned their attention to the room on the farthest, where Miku, Rin and Len sleep. When they noticed that the door was opened slightly, they rushed inside and spotted two masked men, each holding a sword in their arms. Miku, Rin and Len looked terrified on the corner, with Len standing up shakily; stretching his arm to at least calm his sisters, although he was dead scared himself.

As the bandits heard the door being opened, they turned around to see Luka and Ryuu came in. Luka took out a hidden sword on the wall and began dueling one of the bandits. Sure, her swordsmanship gave her the upper hand over the enemy, but there were two, and the space wasn't wide enough for her to maneuver like she would normally do to evade. She felt a stinging pain on her left arm as one of the bandits managed to scratch her. One of the bandits resumed attacking her, and she had no choice but to take care of him first. After several noises of blade struck to each other, she managed to eliminate one of the bandits by stabbing him right in the heart. But again, she had forgotten about the other one behind her. The other bandit had already raised his sword, ready to finish her. She raised her arm to protect herself, although she knew it would be useless. She prepared herself for the attack, but it never came. She opened her closed eyes, and saw Ryuu gripped the bandit's arms, preventing him to use his sword. But his strength was outmatched at the time, and the bandit knocked him off. But for Luka, it was enough for her to take the sword from the dead bandit and used it to slash him, effectively killing the bandit.

The room was now decorated with red liquids on almost every place. She immediately went to her sibling's side and asked every one of them whether they were okay. All of them nodded shakily, while the two girls sobbed and started crying. She quickly wrapped them in her arms, trying to calm them down and telling them that it's okay. Ryuu just got up after being knocked down by the bandit earlier and went near his sensei. Feeling his presence, Luka turned her head to face him fully. She felt really grateful for him as without him, she would've been dead in the fight. She uttered her thanks to him. Ryuu, who was also looked a bit shocked, only managed to nod slightly.

After the situation calmed down, Miku, Rin and Len moved to Luka's room to sleep, as their room was a mess after the fight. Ryuu helped Luka to dispose the enemy's bodies from the said room. After they had gotten rid of the bodies, they started cleaning the blood splatters on almost every place in the room. Luka who just cleaned one of the walls, commented, "Ryuu-kun… Thanks again… for saving me earlier. If you weren't there, I…"

She couldn't finish her words, but for the silver-haired young swordsman, her message was quite clear. He nodded and smiled without looking her way, and replied, "No need to thank you, Luka-san. After all, it was a student's job to protect their sensei, and vice versa, no?"

Luka exhaled and ducked her head. She had to admit that she had her head full of thoughts when fighting the bandits, thus she couldn't focus at the battle. She couldn't help but to think of payback to the bandits who scared her sisters and brother during the fight and that blinded her. She couldn't even imagine if her family survived but her. How would they live? Who would protect them? She sighed and raised her head, looking at the silver-haired man and smiled warmly, "Yes… you're right."

Ryuu noticed that his sensei was looking at him, and he looked back, smiling in response to hers. After several minutes of silence, they finished cleaning the room, and both went back to their rooms. Luka bid him good night and entered her room after he did. On her bed, were three figures sleeping peacefully. She couldn't help but to smile at the sight. She took out an extra mattress and put it on the floor. She took a pillow and settled down on the mattress. She closed her eyes, and it didn't take long for her breathing to turn into a steady rhythm as she was on her own worlds of dream.

Unlike Luka, Ryuu was still sitting on his bed; his hand covered one of his closed eyes. He couldn't sleep, not when he realizes that he just saved his enemy. 'What is wrong with me?' he thought. He opened the letter from his commander which he received earlier that morning and began re-reading the letter once more. He had been communicating with him through a secret messenger that would meet him in a place and time. Handwriting was written on the paper, it says:

_"Ryuu-kun, I am sorry for the loss of your comrades, I never thought that they would've detected our infiltration. But you did a good job to gain her trust. I advise you to get closer to her and gain more of her trust. That way, you should eventually find out where the secret documents are held. But remember this: No matter how close you are with her, she is an __enemy__, remember that. I don't want to see you to betray us and switched side. If that happens, I would have no other choice but to erase your existence. I expect a report in two days._

_ Commander"_

After he finished reading the letter, he took in a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. He put the letter back in his bag which he brought along when going to the training. He relaxed himself and lay down on the bed. 'I must fulfill my mission faster. I'm not sure how long I could stand _it_.' And with that, he fell asleep, although uneasily.

\-/*(^)*\-/

The next day, the pink-haired woman woke up first – as usual – from the other three. She saw that they were still sleeping, and she thought that it would be best not to wake them up from their peaceful state. She opened the door quietly and made her way to the living room, only to see Ryuu sitting on the cushion while writing something on a book. It made Luka's curiosity rose; she went to his back silently and peeked from over his shoulder, trying to read whatever he was writing.

Suddenly Ryuu turned and moved slightly aside when he realized his sensei was already beside him. He immediately stopped writing and closed his book. "Sensei? Don't sneak up on me like that, please."

Luka giggled softly, "Sorry Ryuu-kun, I only want to know what you were writing." She said truthfully. She walked around the cushion and sat beside him; his expression was still. "What is that book?"

Ryuu glanced at the book with brown cover in his hand, then back to Luka. "This… is my diary." He said with a monotone voice. He was glad that Luka nodded and understand. She wouldn't be allowed to see what's inside it since it was his private belonging. "So… What lesson today?" he asked.

Luka thought for a moment. Never being a teacher before, she had no idea what to do after their sparring the day before. She suddenly remembered that he hadn't succeeded in the sparring session, then she finally said, "I guess we'll just walk around the town for now, after that, we'll continue our sparring."

The silver-haired man smiled; for him, walking around the town would not only give him a free time to enjoy, but also to learn more about the town, and its military power and strategic locations. He would report the information to his commander, and surely his country would be easier to win the war. But his smile quickly died down. Unlike the days before that, he hesitated to do so. As secretly, he realized – although he tried to deny it – that he had feelings for his pink-haired sensei. And he doesn't want her to get hurt. And if he gives the information about the city, along with the secret documents to his country, they would've attack soon enough, and Luka might get killed along the process. Nevertheless, he also had duty to his country, thus he agreed to her offer.

They walked outside after Luka left a small note to her younger siblings that she was going out for a while. While they were walking, Luka secretly look at her pupil several times. She didn't notice it before, but his height was just slightly taller than her and the look of his face shows pain and sorrow similar to hers. After the incident last night, she couldn't help but to think of him when she was asleep. She didn't know what made her did so, but she immediately erase the thoughts as Ryuu began asking her about the town, to which she replied with almost too detail information.

After half an hour, they returned to Luka's house, and went to the backyard. Still within the same spot yesterday, both armed themselves with a bamboo sword. The fight began shortly after they confirmed that each other was ready, and Luka noticed a slight difference in Ryuu; He was more aggressive than the last time she fought him, and attacked her almost relentlessly. His actions forced her to go more serious on him, although she mainly defensive. At a time, she saw an opportunity to attack, and she took it. Too bad, she was careless, as he planned her to attack him. He counter-attacked, and Luka tried to block it, but it was a very slight miss, and Ryuu managed to hit her on her upper left arm, scoring a clean hit. They retracted, and Luka rubbed her arm while smiling to him, proud as he was fast enough to learn. "Okay, that was it for now. I see that you're very fast at learning, and I'm proud of you."

The sentence alone made Ryuu unintentionally smile. He bowed his head to respect her. "Thank you, sensei. Uh… if you don't mind, I have to go back to my house now, I've been giving you a lot of troubles already." He said after straightening himself up.

Truthfully, she didn't want her student to leave just yet; but she had no more reason for him to stay, so she nodded and let him go. He uttered his thanks and picked up his belongings. Luka accompanied him to the front gate and then both said good bye as Ryuu started walking back to his house. Luka watched him as he go until he was mixed with the crowds a bit further from where she was standing. She went back inside her house, and noticed that Miku had already woken up, this time, alone. "Where are Rin and Len?" Luka asked.

"They are still sleeping." Miku yawned and idly stretched her arms upwards. Luka rolled her eyes and opened the fridge. Her eyes widened slightly at realization that the food was rather few. She decided that she should buy some, but she need to make a simple breakfast at the time. Thus she made noodles for them four. Deciding that the twin needed more rest, the other two ate by themselves, and left the other two bowls of noodles for them. After they finished, and cleaned themselves up, Luka asked Miku to accompany her to the market to buy some food ingredients. Miku agreed almost enthusiastically, as she rarely goes out since they lost their parents, and she was just not brave enough to go outside by herself as the enemy might attack anytime. They left a note about the breakfast and where they were going to the still sleeping twins, and set off to the market. The market wasn't too crowded, but there are a lot of people that time, busy buying foods and other stuffs. When they got what they needed, Luka and Miku walked back home. On the way, Luka saw a glimpse of a silver-haired man walking between the crowds along with another stranger. 'Ryuu-kun?' She was frozen at where she was standing, and decided to follow him. She gave the bag of the groceries to Miku, "Miku, go home first, I want to find out about something, understand?"

Miku looked up to her sister, "Huh? Can't I just come with you?" She said in hope that Luka would allow her to, but instead, she shook her head, and Miku frowned slightly but followed her older sister's order obediently and started walking back home. "See you sis, don't be too long!" she said just before she was mixed into the crowds.

Now that she was alone, Luka immediately went to where she recently saw someone who she was sure that it was Ryuu. After a brief search of his trail, she managed to catch up with him, still with the stranger a bit far from the market. 'What is he doing here, and with that stranger?' she thought. She followed them secretly, trying her best to conceal what she was intending to do. Several turns later, they stopped in a desolate alleyway somewhere in the city. Luka managed to hide herself a bit further from their position, yet she could still hear what they were saying.

"How'd it go?" The stranger asked first.

"It went well." Ryuu answered.

"Good, the commander will be pleased." The stranger replied. Luka couldn't see what they were doing, but she could hear that the stranger took out an envelope, and she could presume that Ryuu took it. "This is a direction from him. You know very well what to do."

Ryuu opened the envelope and took out the paper inside it. From the silence, Luka could say that he was reading it. Several moments later, she heard Ryuu put the paper back inside. "I… understand."

"Remember, this is our last chance, do not fail." The stranger said.

"Yes, sir…" Ryuu replied and walked away.

Luka remained motionless in where she was hiding until she was sure that there was no one nearby, and then decided that it was safe to come out. She eventually made her way back to her house without paying attention to her surroundings; she couldn't believe what she just overheard earlier. Ryuu was the infiltrator? 'It can't be…' She tried to think that she misheard the conversation, that Ryuu was not the enemy, and that he would not betray her or anything else she could think of.

\-/*(^)*\-/

"Where were you going earlier Luka-san?" The teal haired girl didn't even waste a moment to ask her why she told her to go home alone. Luka just sat on the cushion in the living room and sighed. She didn't know how to explain it to her sister.

"It's nothing." She lied. But she should have foreseen that her sister was sharper than she expected. Miku pouted slightly and pushed her further to explain what happened. Finally Luka gave up, and she explained about why she told her to go first, and what she had heard. "But I'm not sure, okay? I might've misheard it." Luka said after she finished explaining.

Miku's face was indifferent than before she heard the explanation; she couldn't find the words to respond her older sister. She just shrugged and agreed with her that she might've misheard it. Both ended the discussion as the twins just woken up; to which Luka questioned them why they woke up so late. After she finished lecturing them, the twins cleaned themselves up and ate their breakfast, while Miku went back to their (hers, Len, and Rin's) room to at least tidy it up a bit. While Luka went to the backyard to calm herself down.

She sat on the bench holding a sheathed sword in her hands, unsure of what she was going to do with it. She was intending to give the said sword to Ryuu, but the incident today made her hesitate. She un-sheathed the sword, and the sun light reflected on the silver blade. She gracefully swung the sword several times, and then she held it straight. She closed her eyes, waiting for the blowing wind to die down. As soon after the wind had stopped, her eyes shot open as she slashed a small log in front of her, and then quickly re-sheathing her sword. The cut on the log slowly revealed as the upper part of it slowly slid aside and fell to the ground, revealing the clean cut she just made. 'I need to find out the truth…'

\-/*(^)*\-/

The rest of the day went on like usual, with Ryuu took a day off as he already spar with his sensei earlier in the morning. As usual, in the afternoon, Luka was sitting on the roof, watching the setting sun. But this time, she didn't feel peaceful as usual. She kept on thinking about Ryuu, and what the stranger had to do with him, along with those papers. She sighed, 'Mom… Dad… if you two were still here… what advice would you give me?'

She exhaled to calm herself down, and climbed down after the sun had hidden itself completely. Before she could even landed her feet properly on the ground, Len was running to her, an envelope in his hand. "Luka-san! There's a letter from the Captain!" Luka took the letter from Len and began reading silently.

_"Dear Luka-san. I'm sorry if I disturb your free time. But we have information from our intelligence division that the enemy is planning an attack on us. Currently, we have no idea of the time of attack, but I expect you to be on full alert as they may come anytime, even at night. Take care._

_ -Captain"_

Her eyes widened in surprise as the enemy had stopped attacking since a month ago, not counting the incident two nights ago. And now there was information about a planned attack, what is happening?

"Luka-san?"

Len's voice snapped her back to reality and she glanced back to her younger brother. "Yes, Len-kun?"

"Is it something important?" Len appeared to have read her mind.

"I'll tell you inside. Come on, let's find your sisters." Luka said as she took Len to the living room. From there, she called both Miku and Rin who came in soon; confusion was clearly seen on both of their faces. All four took a seat, and then Luka slowly spoke up, "I just received a letter from the captain." She started, the other three nodded. "It says that the enemy had planned an attack on our country, and I must remain alert." She could tell that her siblings were nervous. "I know it's all of a sudden, but I want you three to stay on your guard, too." She paused momentarily, inhaling deeply. "When the attack comes, and I'm not at home, Len-kun, you are to protect your sisters, understand?" Len gulped silently and nodded. "And Miku-chan, when I was away, you're in charge of this house, okay? Also, you and Rin have to maintain cleanliness here, got it?"

Both girls were motionless, but after exchanging worried look to each other, they nodded although uneasily. Luka smiled softly to them, "Okay, don't get too stressed out, go and clean yourselves up for now. Miku-chan, help me prepare dinner will you?" She continued as she got up.

Miku looked like that she was shocked from hearing the news. She shook her head then followed her older sister getting up, "S-sure Luka-san."

As both girls went to the kitchen to prepare the dinner, Len looked at his twin sister and shrugged. Rin did the same. "Well, you first." Len said.

"Okay…" Rin got up and went into the bathroom, and shortly, water was heard running through the faucet.

\-/*(^)*\-/

'It's quiet… Too quiet…' the pink-haired woman thought. She couldn't sleep at the night as she felt something was off. Her siblings were already asleep in her room as theirs hadn't been fully repaired yet, thus no one would be comfortable sleeping there. She went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. Just as she took a gulp of water from her glass, a loud explosion erupted and she quickly ran to the window to see what happened. She could see a large cloud of smoke nearby, and she heard a battle cry from somewhere nearby. Her eyes widened and her first reaction was to go to her siblings' room and wake them up.

As she rushed inside, the three immediately woke up into full awareness. "Wha-… what happened?" Rin nervously asked.

Luka didn't answer her, instead, she ripped open one of the wooden floor boards and revealed a twin swords inside. She put one around her waist, and after making sure that it hung securely, she gave the other one to Len. "Len-kun, I have to go right now, you know what to do, right? Take care."

Len didn't even able to say a word as he was both confused and nervous. Nonetheless, he took the sword from Luka's extended arm. Luka smiled and she went back outside. Len glanced at the other girls whose expression was almost the same as his. He got up from the bed and went to follow Luka to see what happened along with Rin and Miku.

Luka immediately rushed outside. The first scene she saw was several one-on-one fights between her country's troops and the enemy's. She was about to help them when three figures jumped over the fences of her house and unsheathed their swords. Seeing that she must fight them, she pulled the sword from its sheath on her waist and went into her battle stance. Her focus on the three enemies was diverted as she heard someone coming from her right, and she was quick enough to duck and dodge the attack. She quickly countered the attack by slashing the sword, and successfully left a deep wound in the enemy's stomach. The three in front of her eventually charged and she dueled all of them head-on.

She was gaining the advantage even though she was outnumbered. After she eliminated the first three enemies, another four came in. This time, she was the one to charge at them. This time she was a bit careless, as one of the enemies managed to graze her left arm. She didn't notice that three smaller figures were watching the whole fight from the house behind her. However, she immediately turned to them as she heard Miku and Rin screaming. She saw that Len was panting nervously, holding his sword shakily. His arm was grazed by none other than the enemy in front of him; he had not yet the skill to at least fight back properly. Luka abandoned the enemies she fought earlier and ran to help her brother as fast as she could. But she knew that she wouldn't make it in time, as the enemy had already raised his sword, ready to kill him. Miku and RIn could only close their eyes and Len held his sword over his head in hope to block the attack. Luka also closed her eyes, unable to watch what was going to happen.

A stabbing sound was heard, and red liquids were splattered on the wall where Miku and Rin were crouching by. Luka re-opened her eyes and saw a silver-haired man behind the enemy; he appeared to have stabbed the enemy just before he could finish his intention. Len nervously opened his eyes and saw the enemy slowly faltered as the sword in his chest was pulled out, revealing a familiar person behind him. "R-… Ryuu-san."

Ryuu was panting; he appeared to have come from somewhere, running all the way there. "Are you okay?" he asked. Len shakily nodded, some blood was on his face. Ryuu immediately turned to his sensei who now dual-wielding the swords – one which she took from the defeated enemy – re-fighting the previous four she abandoned earlier. He was about to go for her aid, but an enemy showed up in his path and he was forced to fight him. "Sorry Luka-san! I'm a bit full here!"

"Nevermind! Just watch over my siblings!" Luka said between the attacks. She could only hope that Ryuu was able to hold out at least until she finished of the resistance. And holding out Ryuu was; he fought with every bit of ability he had acquired and developed. And with an effort, he managed to kill the enemy, although another two showed up.

'Shit… what was _he_ thinking to send this much of the army?' Ryuu fought the newly arrived enemies at once. Luka noticed that he was at a disadvantage, so she tried to quickly end her fight. She closed her eyes and emptied her mind. She re-opened her eyes shortly after; her mind was only focused at defeating the enemy in front of her. All four enemies didn't know what just happened, all they know was that parts of their bodies such arm and leg were cut off or had been stabbed on some parts of their body. She then regrouped with her pupil who was just about at his limit. "Good timing, master."

Both were standing in front of Miku and Rin who now tried to give Len first aid. "You okay?" Luka asked while she was standing beside Ryuu in her dual-wield battle stance.

"Oh, I'm fine, thank you for asking." Ryuu teased. Surely he had a hard time fighting two enemies at once.

Luka scoffed, "This is no time for jokes, but anyway I'm sorry. I also had my hands full earlier."

Ryuu glanced at the two swords Luka was holding. He grinned, "I can see that."

Luka laughed faintly, "I'm telling you, we will have more time for jokes when we are finished here."

"Agree." Ryuu responded. Both enemies charged the master and student who also rushed forward. Luka blocked both attacks with the two swords, and Ryuu jumped over her and attacked from above. As the enemies' attention was diverted, and raised their swords to block Ryuu's attack, Luka stabbed both of them. One of the enemies, however, managed to dodge the stab and jumped back, and another reinforcement of enemies arrived. "Oh, come on!" Ryuu complained.

Luka had to agree with him as she was about at her limit, too. But she was glad that both need not to fight them as friendly main force had arrived to reinforce them. Several swordsmen attacked the four in front of Luka and Ryuu, and they could relax a bit although they still need to stay alert as the whole battle wasn't finished yet. As the dawn arrived, the fight had ceased with the friendly forces at victory. The enemies were either left lifeless or flee for it. Luka and Ryuu went to Len's side who now sat by the wall along with his sisters. He had messed up bandages on several parts of his body. "You were brave to stand before the enemy, Len-kun. I'm proud of you." Luka commented as she messing up his hair.

Len waved his arm above his head to get rid of Luka's gently. "Yeah…" he said. He appeared that he was still shocked when fighting earlier as he, who usually blabbered about things, became quiet.

Luka exhaled silently and pulled her younger brother closer, giving him a warm embrace to calm him down. "Don't worry, it's over now." She said. Len only managed to nod slightly and closed his eyes, accepting the warm hug from his oldest sister.

\-/*(^)*\-/

"Ryuu-kun…" Luka piped up. The two were sitting in the front yard, looking at the friendly troops cleaning the surroundings. Ryuu paused drinking his tea and glanced at his superior. "Thank you again for saving Len earlier."

Ryuu smiled warmly although he actually didn't want to. He recalled the incident last night; his body was moving on its own. The truth was he only wanted to gain trust from her, get what he was ordered to, and leave. But the situation at the previous night, made his instincts to go and save his master's brother. "No problem, master. I also owe you one."

Luka smiled at him, and felt uneasy as he still called her 'master'. From her point of view, his skills were remarkable, thus making him her subordinate. "Don't mind about it, also, you don't need to call me master, just 'Luka' is enough. You are my equal now."

Ryuu put a confused expression on his face. It was so sudden for him as he felt his skill was very clumsy compared to her. "But-… I'm not even on your skill level yet."

"Perhaps…" Luka began, remembering what he did in the night. "But you have shown some remarkable bravery last night. Not everyone could do the same."

The silver-haired man put his hand under his chin, seemingly contemplating his superior's words. "Really? I didn't even know what I was doing that time. My body felt like it moves on its own."

Luka eye-smiled at him, "Well, that also counts. That means that you have developed your instincts as a swordsman, you really _are_, a fast learner." She paused momentarily as she bends to the side and took a sheathed sword which was the same one that she used to cut the log in the backyard. "…And because of that… I want you to have this." She offered the said sword to him.

"…" Ryuu was speechless. His glance altered between the sword and Luka's eyes, searching for doubt as he thought that he might've misheard it. But he failed miserably as he couldn't find any hesitation in her. He held the sword but hasn't taken it yet. "…are… you sure?" He searched for her assurance. Luka only smiled and nodded slightly. Ryuu exhaled and responded the smile. With her assurance, he took the sword from her hands. "Thank you, _Luka_."

Luka looked away and giggled softly, slight blush could be noticed on her cheeks. She then looked back to him, "You're welcome, _Ryuu_."

Ryuu smiled. He was surprised, however, from Luka's following act; she leaned and rested her head on his shoulder, not that he wanted to push her away, though. He just smiled and put an arm around her, pulled closer, and closed both eyes, instinctively. Likewise, Luka did not offer any resistance to Ryuu's actions; instead, she enjoyed the warmth of the embrace he gave her. It had been a long time since she received a hug ever since her parents passed away.

'I hope this lasts forever…'

* * *

><p>AN: That's it for chapter two! I'll post chapter 3 as soon as I can. Review please, I really need it.


	3. Chapter 3: Separate Ways

Wow I actually forgot about my own story. Thanks to NikkiChan17 who "reminded" me of this story :D

I apologize that it took me a long time to update this story, but I was pretty busy with school stuffs (especially the final exam of the semester). Not to mention my attention for this story was diverted with Battlefield 3 :p

So here we are, at the 3rd chapter of the story. This is basically the end of the story if we fully based it on the PV of the song, but I've made myself an epilogue of my own :p

So I want to thank you to those who added my story to their alert list, and to NikkiChan17 (again), who reviewed my story first :D

On with the story...

* * *

><p>Chapter 3: Separate Ways<p>

Her peaceful state was interrupted by one of the allied soldier who crouched in front both of them. "Luka-san, the captain expected you to see him immediately." Luka quickly released herself from Ryuu's embrace gently and looked at him. Ryuu smiled and nodded in understanding, to which Luka responded with her own smile. She just got up from her seat when the messenger continued, "Um… he also asked for you to take your apprentice with you."

Luka was speechless, but inside, she felt glad that she could still be with Ryuu for a bit longer. She turned to the silver haired man who sighed and took her offered hand and got up. The couple walked towards the military encampment and met the captain with their hands on each other's absentmindedly. Ryuu took his time to look around the encampment before he entered the Captain's office; he didn't go too far from Luka, however.

"Good morning Luka-san, and… I suppose this is your apprentice, Ryuu-san, am I mistaken?" The captain greeted them and shook hands with both swordsmen.

Ryuu nodded, "It's an honor to meet you, sir." He took a seat on one of two chairs in front of the Captain's desk with Luka sat beside him.

"The honor is mine young man." The captain said as he too, took a seat. "I'm sorry to be late to send reinforcement to your house last night Luka-san." He continued, concern detected in his voice. "We weren't prepared yet as we didn't expect them to attack that soon. But at least you two are all right."

"It's thanks to him/her." Both Luka and Ryuu said at the same time while pointing to each other. Both immediately turned to their significant other and their expression was almost mirrored on both faces. Luka quickly ducked her head, trying to hide the light shade of blush on her cheeks, while Ryuu closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

The couple could notice instantly that the captain did his best effort to hold back his laugh. "Okay, okay…" he began, after calming himself down. "I can see that, and please know that I'm very grateful to you two." He glanced around before continuing, "We believe that the target of the attack was to put their hands on the secret documents in the palace. If that happens, we will be devastated since it contains the most detailed information about this country. But thankfully…" He clapped his hand in front of him, "By your actions last night, we will have nothing to worry about for now. You two deserved a rest, use it well. Dismissed"

The couple got up from their seats and bowed respectfully and stepped outside. They began walking towards Luka's house, to which Ryuu asked himself why he did so. Silence fell between them along the way, and shortly, they were in front of Luka's. "Well, see you later Luka." Ryuu said as he just stopped by the front gate while Luka went inside.

The sentence made Luka stopped on her trace and turned around. Sadness slightly plastered on her expression; she didn't want him to leave somehow. But she understood that he also had his own businesses although she was somehow unsure whether it was something good. "Okay, Ryuu. I'll be seeing you around." She smiled faintly and waved her hand sadly as she walked back inside.

Seeing her gesture, Ryuu immediately responded with the same gesture to her. He just started walking away when he stopped and turned around, "Wait, Luka."

Luka immediately turned around. "Yes, Ryuu?"

"Uh…" Ryuu didn't know why but he felt like his words were stuck in his throat. 'Dammit, what's wrong with me?' He purposely coughed and cleared his thought before continuing. "You said that now I'm equal to you. But… can I still learn from you?"

"…" Luka felt like something heavy had been lifted from her heart and she did her best not to become flustered, "S-sure, just come whenever you feel for training. I'll be here." She added an assuring smile in the end.

Not only her, but also Ryuu felt the same. He smiled warmly to the pink-haired woman, "Thank you. Well then, later Luka…" He resumed walking towards the streets.

Luka watched him as he go. She recalled all the events she had gone through with him. It was only three days ago she met him for the first time, and it had been around 48 hours since she trained him for the first time. Several hours later, her life was saved by him in an incident. And the previous night, they fought together against the axis force and he had shown some notable skills back then. And that morning, she had given him his trust by giving him a sword, marking him as her equal. Although when she rested her head on his shoulder, she had prepared herself for his rejection as she had readied herself if he decided to push her away. But in contrast of all her imagination, he pulled her closer to his embrace, instead of pushing her away.

She couldn't help but to blush at realizing that somehow she had fallen for him in just less than 72 hours time. With another smile, she turned and got inside the house. Miku who was out in the front yard earlier teased her just as she got inside, "I saw that." She said.

"Saw what?" Luka pretended that she didn't know what happened.

"C'mon Luka-san, I knew it already."

Luka couldn't evade anymore, "Okay, okay… I admit it."

Miku instantly bursted out laughing, "I KNEW IT!"

Luka's pink burned red in an instant. "Ssh, don't tell Len and Rin. At least… not _yet_."

Miku giggled and raised her hands, "Hehe, don't worry, I won't."

Luka only smiled and patted her sister's head which made her pout slightly and waved her hand to get rid of hers.

\-/*(^)*\-/

"Have you found out where the documents are?"

Ryuu was in another desolated alleyway along with the same stranger the previous day. In response to the stranger's question, he shook his head, "But I know that it was kept in the palace. But I have no authorization to get inside."

The hooded stranger nodded his head slightly, and then he took out an envelope and gave it to Ryuu, "No problem, we will send a spy inside."

The silver-haired man paused opening the envelope instantly, his gaze immediately averted from the papers inside the envelope straight to the eyes of the stranger, "You don't suppose it's me, right?"

"Don't worry… It would be another one of us, your job is only to gain trust from that girl and then take the documents whenever possible." The stranger said. He saw that Ryuu exhaled slightly in relief, he gave him a stern look, "Listen up Ryuu, this is our last chance to win the war. So I'm going to say this once more: no matter how close you two are, don't get your feelings get the best of you, understand?"

Ryuu uneasily nodded, "I… understand Dai-sama."

"Good…" Dai answered. "I'll be back in two days with information on what we will do with your information. Same place, same time, don't be late."

"Okay…" Ryuu said as he saw Dai turned around and walked away. He began reading the papers inside and put it back inside the envelope once he had finished. Then he walked back to the crowded streets. 'What should I do now…?'

\-/*(^)*\-/

The next day, Ryuu came to Luka's house to visit Len who he just found out that he was sick. He also intended to get some training, too. As he arrived at the front gate, Luka was watering the plants. Her blue eyes immediately focused at the silver haired man standing by the gate, and she quickly went to the gate and opened it, letting him inside. "Hello, Ryuu."

"Hello Luka. I heard that Len is sick, how is he now?" Ryuu asked just after Luka closed the gate behind him.

Luka went to his side and both walked to her house, "Well, he is better now, although his temperature was still a bit high." She explained along the way. Ryuu could only nod; he remembered that the young boy was shocked at the attack two nights ago. That might've been the cause of his fever.

The two eventually stood at the door of Luka's room, which where the three sleep as their room hadn't yet repaired fully. Ryuu went inside after Luka did, and he saw that Len was lying still on the bed, while Miku and Rin were on his side. Luka sat beside Rin, while Ryuu crouched on the other side. Len turned slightly to the newcomer, and Ryuu smiled faintly to him, "How do you feel Len-kun?" he asked.

Len formed a small smile on his lips and closed his eyes, "A bit better, thanks for visiting Ryuu-san."

"No problem." Ryuu answered. "You…" he felt that three pairs of eyes immediately turned to him as he continued, "You can't forget the incident that night, can you?"

Luka felt uneasy as she and her sisters never asked Len about that as they didn't want to remind him about the occurrence. But now, her former pupil asked about it straightly. To her surprise, Len shook his head, "No, to be honest, I can't…" he said.

Inwardly, Luka concerned about what Ryuu was going to say, because she thought that he need the right words to answer her brother, otherwise, it would be even worse. "I understand…" He began, "I'm also scared that night, I never got into any real sword fight before neither."

Len turned again to whom he thought as brother, "You… you were scared too?"

Ryuu nodded, "I would be a fool if I don't. But you did the right thing that moment: you protected your sisters; don't you think that it was something to be proud of, although you might didn't do it perfectly?"

The yellow-haired boy closed his eyes, contemplating Ryuu's words. He opened his eyes and smiled to him, "I guess… I guess it is…"

Everyone in the room smiled, and then Ryuu glanced to Luka who immediately turned her attention to him. He signaled her to go outside and Luka nodded slightly. Both got up slowly, and Ryuu grabbed Len's arm gently, "Get well soon, 'kay?"

Len nodded and smiled, "Okay…"

Ryuu responded with his own smile, and then he walked outside with the pink-haired woman.

\-/*(^)*\-/

"Well that was some words you said…" Luka piped up as she and Ryuu walked across the living room. She didn't expect that he would be able to give moral support to her brother.

Ryuu turned his head so he faced her fully. "Really? I thought all I said is what have been done."

"No, it's more than that for him." She quickly responded. "You know, he really adored you as a brother. Well that makes sense for me as he is the only boy here."

Ryuu tapped his chin and contemplated what Luka had said, "Hmm, now you mention it, he seemed to be more active when I'm around…"

Luka only giggled and smile in response. They had gone silent until they reached the backyard. As usual, Ryuu asked her what she was going to train him. Luka explained that he needs to gain more agility so he could dodge attacks more swiftly. Ryuu wondered why as he had spar with her, thus making his agility increased. Luka explained that it wasn't enough. Ryuu understood, and then asked her again what they would use as a training media.

Luka went to a wooden barrel nearby and opened its cover. Inside, was dozens of swords, or that was how Ryuu saw it. After Luka took all of it, it was revealed that the arrows were dummies, and all of them had soft points instead of the sharp ones. "We are going to use these for your training." She explained. "Your goal is to dodge as many arrows I shot at you as possible. You may either block, or dodge the arrows using the wooden sword there." She pointed the said sword on a nearby tree which Ryuu quickly took it. "Okay, ready?"

Ryuu's answer was him going into his battle stance. Luka smiled and took a conventional crossbow nearby. She took one dummy arrow and placed the back part of it on the bow string, while the head rested on her left arm which was holding the bow. As usual, she (you could say _they_) waited for the wind to die down. Without wasting a moment after it happened, Luka let go of the arrow and it launched at a speed towards Ryuu who jumped to the side, successfully evading the arrow. Seeing his agility, Luka smiled slightly and increased the pace of her shooting. Every 1 second, she shot an arrow, and as she had expected, Ryuu had managed to either dodge or block it, although he had several close calls.

"Let's see you handle multiple arrows Ryuu." Luka said as she placed the bow horizontally, not vertically like before, and placed three arrows at once. Ryuu's eyes widened slightly in surprise, and surprised he was. Luka pulled the arrow a bit further back, making its speed increased significantly, thus making it harder to dodge. Ryuu used his sword to block the center arrow and ducked to dodge the other two. Before he could even stand up, Luka had already shot another three arrows at him. His reflex was to jump yet crouching at the same time. He had to use the sword to block the focused arrows on him, however.

As they progresses, and Luka noticed that her ammunition was running low, she placed five arrows instead of three, and shot it in a quick sessions. Although he had foreseen it, Ryuu was already using much of his stamina to dodge the arrows before, so he mainly uses his wooden sword to block the attack instead of dodging it. But one should already know that one sword isn't enough to block five clustered arrows, thus at her final ammunition, two arrows managed to hit him in the stomach and left arm.

"You almost got that right, you know?" Luka said with a teasing tone as Ryuu rubbed parts of his body which had been hit by the dummy arrows.

"I guess…" He said while sitting down on the bench. Luka sighed yet smiled and took off the arrow holder and the bow, placed it beside the bench and sat down beside her student. "I need to train a lot more…"

Luka rolled her eyes, she couldn't believe that he was that stubborn for wanting to retry even without resting a little bit. "Okay, okay. But you should rest a bit first."

Ryuu turned to her and smiled, "Sure…"

Luka smiled and closed her eyes while she leaned and rested her head on Ryuu's unwounded shoulder again, just like last time…

\-/*(^)*\-/

Ryuu went home half an hour later as he was called by whom he mentioned as his brother. Luka uneasily let him go, however. She went back inside her house after closing the front gate, and saw Len walking towards the fridge. "Len-kun? How's your condition?" Luka asked with a concern as not two hours ago, he was still lying weakly on the bed; but now he could walk as if nothing had happened to him.

"A lot better now." Len answered with a soft smile to his sister and opened the fridge, apparently looking for something to eat or drink.

This didn't go unnoticed by the concerned pink-haired woman, "You want to eat something?" She saw Len nodded and she told him to sit on the chair by the table while waiting her making sushi. "Where are Miku and Rin?" Luka finally realized that her noisy sisters were unusually quiet.

Len scratched the back of his head while answering, "They are sleeping." He yawned. "I guess I have been a burden recently, sorry Luka-san. And…I also need to thank Rin and Miku-san for watching over me too, I guess…"

'Must be tired of looking over him…' Luka silently commented, her twin blue orbs were focused at the food she was making at the time. "Half of your thanks…" She began, "…should be given to Ryuu as well."

Len nodded as he too, felt that he was the one who gave him the moral support. "Yeah, I think so, too."

Luka smiled and brought the cooked sushi to the table on a plate along with a warm cup of tea in her hands. Len uttered his thanks and began eating slowly unlike usual. Luka presumed that he was either still not feeling well enough or he was enjoying the food. Nevertheless…'Thank you, Ryuu.' She mentally uttered her thanks to Ryuu for giving Len a moral support.

\-/*(^)*\-/

Meanwhile…

"What is it now, Dai-san?" Ryuu asked

"We have found out the exact location of the documents." Dai answered with a monotone voice. He took out a paper which appeared like a map to Ryuu. And map it was, "Okay, so this is the exact map of the palace." He started briefing Ryuu. "This is the entrance," he pointed at the place, "you could enter the palace from here, here, and here." He pointed out each possible entrance to which Ryuu nodded slightly, "Whichever entrance you choose, you will follow this hall here. Follow the hall," Dai's finger traced along between the straight lines, "and enter this room right here." He pointed to one of the space on the map. "The documents are inside the shelves, we have no idea which one, so you have to search on it quickly."

Ryuu thought for a moment, "I understand…" He nodded. Then something came on his mind, "Wait, how am I suppose to infiltrate the palace without even being detected? There are a lot of guards there."

Dai made a smirk and rolled the map, "Don't worry, we have thought of that too." He gave the map to Ryuu, "Tomorrow, we will launch another large scale attack. We will make sure that the enemy leaders know our plan, so they will assign the majority of the troops to confront us. Once the battle started, it's your chance to get inside the palace, and take the documents."

"A diversionary attack…" Ryuu commented. Dai nodded slightly. "Are you sure this is going to work?"

"Not 100% sure, but we believe that you will succeed in fulfilling your mission." Dai got up from his crouching position along with Ryuu. "We will leak the attack information at night, make sure you act like whatever you are whilst here. Oh, and the attack will begin around nine o'clock in the morning, don't miss it."

Ryuu only nodded. Dai scoffed and walked away, Ryuu to the other way. 'So it has come to this… Should I tell her?' The silver-haired man had a conflict inside his head; which side should he join? 'No, I guess I won't. It would be better if she never know…'

\-/*(^)*\-/

That night, Luka's country army was in a slight chaos from receiving the information about the enemy's large scale attack. Ryuu contemplated that Dai really mean it. At the time, he and Luka was called to the main base for briefing. However, he didn't even pay any attention to what the Captain said, instead, he kept on thinking on how he would be able to take the secret documents.

"Are you scared?" Luka asked him when they returned to Luka's house to tell her siblings about the upcoming battle. Ryuu decided to lie to her as he didn't want her to know the truth of his main objective, thus he nodded. "It's okay, I'm scared, too."

He can't help but to look at her. At the moment, he had the urge to tell her everything. He had lied too many times to her; he felt that he deserves a punishment from her. But he also had his duties to his country, thus he couldn't tell her, at least for the time being…

Luka and Ryuu told Luka's younger siblings about the battle that's going to happen as soon as they reached her house, and they could sense their nervousness. "Don't worry too much Luka-san" Len piped up after the couple had finished their saying, "You have taught me several technique, this time I will protect _them_ better than before."

Luka smiled and patted him on the head, "That's my little brother." She then moved to give a hug on the other two girls beside him. It lasted for about a minute, and Ryuu waited patiently. He couldn't help but to think how they will become after he had left. "Take care, okay?" Luka said, and then she departed along with Ryuu to the frontline.

\-/*(^)*\-/

They arrived at the frontline soon enough. The two looked at the wide empty field in front of them, which was the border of the two countries. Several hours of patient waiting later, their half-peaceful state were disrupted by a shouting from one of the friendly troop, "They are here!"

Luka immediately gazed to the direction which the troop pointed, and far on the horizon, something coming at their direction, slowly yet surely. Moments later, she was sure that it was the enemy's battle force, and their numbers were quite a lot. Luka silently gulped seeing the number of enemy troops, however, Ryuu remained calm.

Minutes later, the enemy stood just about 50 meters in front of where they were standing. Leaders on both sides gave a battle speech to increase their troops' fighting morale. As soon as after they done speaking, both sides' archers moved forward. The enemy's fighting plan was similar to Luka's; the archers were going to be the first to open fire and rain arrows on the enemy's force, and then the main troops shall rush forward and fight head on.

Luka took cover behind a wall nearby along with Ryuu just before their forces' archers shot their arrows. As the first shots have been made, the enemies did the same. Hundreds of arrows fell at each other's forces, annihilating a number of opposing side's troops.

As soon as the raining arrows were over, Luka and Ryuu came out from their cover along with other troops. They saw that the enemies had already rushed forward, thus they did the same. The ones in the front was those with spears; their job was to strike the opposing side's similar spearhead and make way for the swordsmen to charge into the enemy's ranks.

And that was exactly what happened, once the spears had met the flesh of their target, the rushing stopped and the battle begun. Luka and Ryuu jumped over the spear holders and engaged the enemy ranks alone. Their teamwork had been proven improved by leaps and bounds as they swiftly, and almost without any flaw covers each other and attacked the enemies quite easily.

However, the teamwork didn't last very long; as shortly after the battle started, Luka had lost sight of Ryuu who was beside her earlier. She tried to call his name, but her voice was drowned by the battle cries all over the battlefield. And with the enemies swarming all over the place, she had no choice but to focus on the current fight while silently hoping that her student would be fine.

After half an hour of almost non-stop fighting, both sides retreated back to their camps, preparing for another strategy for the next clash. Luka didn't even rest; she spent her time looking for the silver-haired man. She asked her friends whether they had seen him. But the answer was always 'no'. She thought hard about where he could've been gone. And suddenly it clicked into place. She remembered overhearing a chat with him and a stranger in a desolated alleyway a while back, and her first reaction was to go back to her house. She asked for permission from her captain, and as soon as she received it, she ran back to her house.

\-/*(^)*\-/

"Len-kun! Miku-chan! Rin-chan! Did Ryuu come here just now?" She asked them straightaway as soon as she entered her house.

Len was the first one to answer her, "Uh, yeah he did come. But he left as quickly as he arrived, just now."

Luka almost couldn't believe what she had heard. Her second worst scenario had just happened and in progress before her eyes. Seeing her sister's blank face, Rin spoke up, "Um, he also left an-…" she couldn't finish her words as Luka immediately rushed outside to look for Ryuu, and left the three exchanging confused looks on each other.

Luka asked almost everyone she saw whether they have seen the silver-haired man in question. After several tries, finally an old man told her that he saw the said person running in a hurry to the direction he pointed at. Luka uttered her thanks and immediately went after Ryuu.

She almost ran nonstop along the road and after several minutes, she saw a figure in the distance. By the posture of the stranger she saw, she was very sure that it was the person she was looking most at the time. "Ryuu!" She shouted.

The silver-haired man immediately stopped and turned around. His eyes widened in surprise; he didn't expect her to be able to track him that fast. And to top of that, he was caught red-handed. "…Luka."

Luka's twin blue orbs immediately focused on the envelopes on his right hand. It was clearly recognizable for Luka to assume that it was her country's top secret documents. "Why, Ryuu? Why are you doing this?"

Ryuu felt like he couldn't lie anymore to her anymore; not when the proof was right there and there were too many obvious clues. "Because… I am one of _them_."

The pink-haired woman was frozen stiff, she couldn't believe what he had said, "You…you're joking right?" She asked, silently hoping that he would shake his head and laughed and said that the documents in his hands were fakes. Too bad she had to erase that hope as he showed a mark on his left arm which he hid from her absolutely well, somehow; the mark was the marking of Luka's enemy country's soldier, marking him as one of them.

"I'm sorry…" He tried to remain as calm as possible. But the sight was almost too much for him.

Luka still ducked her head, she couldn't think straight as she felt like she had received too much information from him which she couldn't accept all of it so easily. "I... don't believe it Ryuu…"

Ryuu had lost his patience somehow, "Can't you see? I lied to you all these times!" He threw the documents to the ground, a bit far from him. "I came to you so suddenly and ask to be your apprentice, it was _NO_ coincidence! That _was_ my mission! The commander, he _IS_ my dad, which I lied to you that he was long gone! I gave out the information to my country's informant who is _my brother_! Can't you even see that?" He took in a breath then exhaled as quickly as he inhaled it, he said all the sentences in one breath.

Luka looked up to him, sadness flickered within her expression. "I… already knew."

Ryuu's eyes widened slightly. He ducked his head, unable to believe that she knew it all along, "Then… why? Why don't you keep distance from me? I was merely _using_ you! I-…"

"Do you think I should tell you _why_?" Luka cut in. Ryuu immediately looked up, he understood the message quite clearly, and it was no surprise to him. He noticed that her eyes were holding tears that yet to fall. They kept silent for another moment and Luka wept her eyes.

The silver-haired man ducked his head again, thinking of what he was going to do in such situation. However, he smiled mysteriously, although it quickly died down. "I'm sorry, Luka…" He unsheathed his sword. "In a battle, one must extinguish his feelings, right?" He pointed the edge of the sword towards his former teacher. "Fight me Luka. Your only choice is to let me go and give these documents to my father, or stop me here."

Luka didn't answer. She couldn't decide what to do. But finally she knew that she had to do it. She silently pulled out her own sword from its sheath, and went into her battle stance. "I _will_ stop you here."

Unlike their training, Ryuu didn't smile whatsoever. He immediately charged at his former sensei and begun attacking relentlessly. On the other side, Luka mainly went on defensive as she still couldn't believe that her only student, the one she cared so much, fought her with killing intents. 'I know that this is the right thing, but… Why I don't feel like it is?' She thought.

Not only had the pink-haired girl had the conflict inside her mind, but also the silver-haired man. As he kept on exchanging blows with Luka, he couldn't stop thinking about why it should've been that way.

Several sounds of metal blades struck to each other later, they retracted and jumped back. Both panting heavily as they attacked each other almost nonstop. 'It has to be this way… I know…' Ryuu mentally planned something. Luka could notice a quick faint smile on his lips before it died down as he charged boldly at her.

Then it happened so fast that even Luka didn't know what exactly happened. All that she knew was Ryuu stood very close to her, and she could feel the red liquids on her hand which was holding her sword and a little splatter of it on her face. Her expression was blank; she nervously averted her gaze to the face in front of her and saw the man smiled faintly as the same red liquid slowly came out from it.

Luka's eyes widened in shock, she didn't dare to look what just happened below her head. But finally she braved herself and slowly peeked at her now red hands. What she saw shocked her even more; her sword had gone through straight between Ryuu's chest and stomach, all the way to the back. "R-Ryuu…?"

She could notice that he just dropped his sword – which was the same sword she gave him – on her left side. Then she felt that his arms slowly moved around her and eventually wrapped her in a hug. Ryuu closed his eyes, while Luka's were still wide open and her expression was blank shocked. "W-why…?"

"It had to be this way… I already knew it since the first time I spar with you." Ryuu explained, his voice trembled a bit along with his shaky hands. "It was my decided fate ever since I was born in this… cursed family."

Luka couldn't say a word; she just slowly closed her teary eyes in order to hold back the tears. But the action made a drop of tear fell along with a drop of the red liquid. She slowly leaned forward and her turned her head to the side and rested it just below Ryuu's chin.

In response to her action, Ryuu tightened his hug slightly and his head rested on hers with light pressure. "I-it maybe sounds awkward but…" He started, "Within the short time we've been together… Well, I almost couldn't believe it at first but… The truth is… I _love_ you."

Luka put her free arm around him and enveloped him in her embrace. "I-it's not…" Her voice was shaky in cause of holding back the tears that were yet to fall. "To be honest, I-… I also… in _love_ you."

Ryuu tightened his embrace and exhaled shakily. "Thank you…" She could notice that his voice was a lot weaker than before. She didn't want to let go, but she knew that soon or later, she must. Ryuu coughed up some amount of blood shortly after, and took in a deep breath. "W-well, I guess this is where we must go our separate ways…"

Luka could feel his grip on her back weakened, and she shut her eyes even tighter. Slowly, he let go of her, "Thank you… Luka…" With that, he slowly fell backwards on purpose, faint smile on his face. His movement made Luka's sword pulled out from him. He fell to the ground almost in a slowmotion for Luka's eyes.

When he made contact with the ground, and didn't move even a bit after that, Luka felt like her entire strength had left her, and she dropped her arm while still holding her sword. She bit her lower lip and tried to hold back the tears on her eyes but failed miserably. Tears started falling along with the rain, and the blood on her sword slowly dripped down from the edge of the sword, as if the sword cried along with her.

\-/*(^)*\-/

Several minutes later, the late reinforcements arrived at the sight, only to see the pink-haired woman stood still and a lifeless body in front of her, lying on the ground. Her captain apologized to her for not being observant enough to tell that Ryuu was not one of them. They went back home shortly after, and at Luka's request, they took Ryuu's body with them.

After they had arrived back to their country, Len, Miku and Rin felt the sad atmosphere and decided not to ask about what happened to her. But their question was partly answered when they saw the lifeless body of Ryuu being put into the hole at the graveyard. All of them didn't know what to say as it was so sudden. After his body was put inside, the hole was closed, and a gravestone with his name carved into it was placed. All of them who attended the burial prayed for him, especially the pink-haired woman, who stayed there longer, ignoring the rain which pouring even harder. If her siblings didn't force her to go home, she might've been standing there by herself. With an uneasy feeling, she slowly turned around and came along her siblings back home. She stopped momentarily by the gate and turned to the newly created grave. She somehow smiled and then resumed walking back home. 'Thank you, Ryuu…'

A month later, the Great War ended with Ryuu's country in defeat. The commander, Ryuu's father finally surrenders after his last plan was failed to realize. It was then revealed that the infiltration mission was a desperate attempt to find Luka's country's weaknesses and defeat them. But it was miserably failed as it was stopped, and his son failed to take the documents containing the secrets of the country, thus left him with no other plan in mind. The reason why he dare sent his own son into the dangerous mission was because he was running out of suitable men for the job, thus he sent his own son to infiltrate the country.

After years of living in worries and sorrow, the pink-haired woman finally found the true peace along with her siblings. And although _he_ was no longer beside her, she still held him in her hearts, and she vowed that she would never let go…

"_What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends..." _

-Robert E. Lee

-The End-

* * *

><p>And there we go! I hope you all enjoy this story until the end, and as I have said, I have an epilogue for this one. I'll post it in a few days.<p>

It won't be fun if I post the epilogue now, isn't it? :D


	4. Epilogue: Ryuu

A/N: Okay, actually I was going to post this epilogue yesterday, but I was sick back then, and it has to be delayed until today. So yeah, here we are, in the final chapter of this story. Basically this part is where I put my imagination to the fullest, since I made this chapter up based merely on my imagination. So I dunno whether this is good or no. You guys tell me, 'kay? :D

* * *

><p>Luka just came back from visiting Ryuu's graveyard along with Rin. When she arrived at home, she saw that Len was training his swordsmanship with Miku who somehow learn quicker than him. Seeing the scenery, she couldn't help but to remember her past with the silver-haired man. She then glanced to the little yellow-haired girl beside her and remembered something, something that she didn't get to hear that time. "Rin-chan, when I was looking for Ryuu <em>that<em> time, you wanted to say something to me, but I already went outside. What was it that you want me to know?"

Rin looked up to her older sister, "Oh, _that_. I wanted to tell you that when he came here, he left something on your room, and told us to tell you about it. But I forgot after that incident, sorry."

Luka's eyes widened slightly, "Where is that thing now?" she asked with genuine curiosity.

Rin tapped her chin as if she was trying to remember where the thing was located. "I think it's still in your room. We didn't go inside anymore ever since our room got repaired, so I don't know whether you might've moved it or not."

Luka immediately dashed to her room after she kissed Rin on the forehead as thanks, and began looking for something strange on her room. After a brief search, she finally found a strange small black plastic lying on the corner. She brought it into the living room and opened it. Inside, was a folded paper along with a small book which she was familiar with. She first unfolded the paper, and read the handwriting on it silently.

_ Dear Luka,_

_ When you are reading this, I might've been either returned to my country or dead. For our sake I hope it's the second one, or neither of it. Anyway, I left you my diary book as you seemed eager to read it when you first see it. So now, as I'm no longer by your side, you may read it. It was not written until the final page, however, but you might want to continue it with your own story which I believe would be much more interesting than mine. I hope you will accept it._

_ -Ryuu_

She exhaled to calm herself and took out the dairy book and opened the brown cover. Inside was a similar handwriting with the one on the paper she read earlier. It says:

_ Day 1._

_ It was my birthday, and my parents gave me this diary book. They say it was given so that I could record my 'life history' or whatever it is. I don't really need it for it though, but as they said that I could also write my feelings here, I might gonna like this book…_

She smiled reading the first note on his diary, and continued to the next page:

_Day 2._

_ Got into a fight today and I lost. My mom fussed a lot about it but c'mon mom, I'm no longer the kid who used to cry a lot! But anyway, thanks for the medicine, I love you mom!_

She just went through the pages…

_ Day 49_

_ My dad finally taught me some basic swordsman skill; he said that I would need it in the future. Whatever dad, but at least I like how he teaches me. Harsh yet soft, how to put that? Whatever…_

_ Day 80_

_ My brother took me to the noodle shop and treated me there. This was pretty much unusual for him to suddenly be nice to me. I usually got into fights with him, but what the heck happened to him? I got a very bad feeling now…_

_ Day 275_

_ It's my brother's birthday, and we planned a surprise party for him. We would disguise ourselves as bandits and ambush him on his way back home. And it was a big success! We managed to make him panic and I could tell that he almost cried back then, come on brother! Were you that scared?_

_ Day 315_

_ Happy birthday mom! We just celebrated her birthday party earlier and we were glad that she enjoyed it. Although at the end, my brother triggered the 'food war' and the room ended up into a mess. He had to thank all of us for helping him cleaning the room. SAY THANKS BROTHER!_

_ Day 365_

_ Time for my birthday! I had a lot of fun with both my friends and my family today. I and my friends didn't celebrate it too much, only eating together at a restaurant. But with my family, it was whole different stuff! We had a lot of fun with mom cooked us a special karagee for all of us, and I guess it was the most delicious food she ever made. Thank you everyone!_

_ Day 402_

_ A war has erupted between us and our neighboring country, it was all too sudden. Many people died in just this first day of war. I can only hope that this war wouldn't last long…_

_ Day 412_

_ Mom… why? Why you had to leave so soon? Why can't this stupid war stop already? I won't forgive them… no matter what; I vow to avenge my mother's death!_

_ Day 634_

_ Been lazy to write here somehow… today was nothing special except my dad became the commander of our whole army. Looks like he also intending to avenge my mother's death…_

_ Day 986_

_ Things have gotten worse as we kept on losing our best people. Now I was assigned to infiltrate the enemy's country to search and take their secret documents. I hope this won't be too hard…_

_ Day 987_

_ The infiltration mission was a disaster; my whole team was obliterated but me. Fortunately, they didn't found me after I have escaped. And now I was the apprentice of one of their famous swordsman, Luka. I heard tales of her eliminating 3 squads of ours singlehandedly. I might be able to learn a thing or two from her…_

_ Day 988_

_ It was the first day of training and also first day of battle against my own countrymen. The training wasn't much different than that of my father's, but she is a little harsher and knew a lot more technique than my dad. And about the battle…I don't have any idea what the heck they are doing here. And why did I save her? She is my enemy; I can't be fallen for her! I should focus on my mission next time…_

_ Day 989_

_ I stayed overnight at her house. I should've rejected the request, but somehow I couldn't. Well, at least it made her trust me even more. We had a spar this morning and finally I was able to score a clean hit on her which was no simple task. And my brother somehow managed to infiltrate the country and contacted me when I was going 'home' from Luka-sensei's house. He told me about everything, but somehow, when I talk to him, I feel like I was being watched. Well, it might be just my feelings…_

_ Day 990_

_ Last night was a very serious stuff. Although I was informed that it was a planned attack designed by my father for me to gain more trust from Luka-sensei, I didn't expect him to send that many troops. And my body felt like its moving on its own; I saved her brother. And in the morning, she leaned on me and I knew that I must not stay like that. But somehow my instincts told me to return the favor. Oh yeah, now she also saw me as an equal to her. This is getting too much for me…_

_ Day 991_

_ Len fell sick, and somehow I couldn't hold the urge but so visit him. And so I did, and I gave him moral support without even knowing what I said. I also spar with Luka today; increasing my agility she said. She was too kind, and I lied too much to her. I guess I deserve a punishment from her anytime… Oh, and my brother contacted me that we had found out where the documents was. And I was the one to take it from the palace when the diversionary attack tomorrow begun. Hope it went well, and… I wouldn't have to meet her tomorrow…_

_ Day 992_

_ Well, this is it. The day has come for me to get back to my country. The diversionary attack will begin in an hour. Well, this is going to be an easy task I guess. Pretend to fight along, then within the fight, ran back to the palace unnoticed, get the documents, and back to my country, yeah. Sounds easy enough... But before I leave… I want to give this book to her. I hope she won't encounter me when I escape... But even if she somehow find me… I know what I must do…_

Luka closed the diary, she wept her now teary eyes and went to the last page of the book as she knew that there were no longer anything written after 'Day 992' as it was the last day she met him. She skipped to the final page and discovered several photos of him with his family which made her smile a bit. Then at the back cover, at the inside, was his hand drawing. The picture was all too familiar to her: It was when she and he sat on the bench in front of her house and she rested her head on his shoulder while his free arm went around her back. She smiled recalling the occurrence and closed the diary. But it fell to the floor accidentally along with his letter. When she bent down to pick it up, she saw a small writing below the main letter which she didn't notice earlier. She took the letter and gazed at the words.

_P.S: I love you Luka…_

She couldn't hold back her tears anymore. She silently cried while holding the diary and the letter. She smiled however, knowing that he actually love her. 'If you were here now… we might be laughing together now… I'll miss you Ryuu…'

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><p>AN: And...yay, it's finished! Tell me whether my epilogue is good or bad, since I can't judge myself. Alright, so I want to thank you to those who read my story until the end, and again, thanks to you NikkiChan17, for reviewing my story which I really appreciate (if you didn't, I might forget this story completely :p ). So, yeah, that's it from me now, see ya in the next story!


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